In an exclusive interview with the Business Standard, Experian Services India Managing Director and Country Manager Vikram Narayan said the company is currently looking for India acquisitions opportunities.

Experian is a global information, analytical tools and marketing services company. Experian already controls 49 per cent stake in India’s second-largest credit information bureau, Experian Credit Information Company of India Pvt Limited.

According to the Business Standard, Experian is scouting for buy-outs in web analytics, knowledge process outsourcing, business information and digital marketing.

Narayan told Business Standard that Mergers and acquisitions are a large part of Experian’s growth strategy in India. According to Narayan, Experian is currently actively looking at acquisition opportunities to scale up its operations.

This is necessary for accelerated growth in customer base, revenues and profitability, Narayan said.

Narayan didn’t however spell out the volume of investment Experian had earmarked for the acquisitions. He however noted that globally, Experian has been very active in mergers and acquisitions and has closed some large deals in the last couple of years.

According to the Business Standard, since 2006, Experian had accounted for 25 acquisitions, at an average investment of $2.8 billion. The Ireland-based company’s largest acquisition so far was that of Serasa, a credit information bureau in Brazil. Experian had acquired Serasa for $1.272 billion.

In India, the current regulatory norms do not allow an overseas investor to acquire the majority stake in a credit information bureau, the report noted.

Narayan said Experian would have been interested in a credit information bureau in India, but the current regulations don’t permit foreign firms more than 49 per cent stake. However, the company is actively looking for buy-outs in other areas in which it operates, Narayan told the Standard.

In November, 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired Pangea3, a legal process outsourcing firm in India, while Ybrant Digital, a Hyderabad-based digital marketing company, bought Lycos Inc from Korean firm Daum Communications for $36 million in August, 2010, indicated the Business Standard.

According to the Standard, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had, earlier this month, announced new regulations on mergers and acquisitions for companies in India. These regulations would be effective from June 1 and companies planning high-value acquisitions would first need to secure CCI’s approval for the deals.

In light of this, Narayan told the Business Standard it is not clear whether Experian would come under these regulations.

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